Magnetic book holder



March 21, 1961 J. LUTTERBERG MAGNETIC BOOK HOLDER Filed March 26, 1959 FIG 2 FIG FIGB

INVENTOR. JOSEPH LUTTERBERG MAGNETIC 1300K HGLDER Joseph Lutterherg, -11 Front St., Uniondaie, NIY. Filed Mar. 26, 1959, Ser. No. 802,086

1 Claim. (Cl. 4557) This invention relates to book or paper holders and more particularly to such means having magnetic holding means.

Book or paper holders are quite commonly used to support a book or paper in a substantially vertical position for easy reading or copying therefrom. Such apparatus has generally used various arrangements of springs to hold the book or papers. Springs are not too desirable since they tend to wear out with use or become bent or broken in use or in handling or moving the holder or stand. Also, they are not too convenient when opening a relatively thick book near the beginning or the end, namely, where there are only a few pages open on one side and a large number of pages on the other side.

The present invention provides such means comprising a stand having a bottom member and a substantially upright member. The bottom member is at least partially of a magnetic material and a holding member is magnetically connected thereto. The holding member incorporates a relatively strong magnet and preferably has a pair of adjustable holding fingers at each end. The bottom and back members are preferably hinged so that they may be folded for convenient transportation. A supporting arm is hinged to the back of the back member to provide support for the back member in a plane approaching the vertical.

Accordingly, a principal object of the invention is to provide new and improved paper or book holding stand means.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved paper or book holding stand means having magnetic holding means.

Another object of the invention is to provide a book or paper holder having bottom and back members and a rotatable, adjustable holding member adapted to be magnetically connected to said bottom and back members.

These and other objects of the invention will be apparent from the following specification and drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front view of an embodiment of the invention.

Figure 2 is a side view of the embodiment of Figure 1, and

Figure 3 is a top view of the embodiment of Figures 1 and 2.

Referring to the figures, the invention comprises a book or paper stand having a foot member 1 and a back member 2 hinged thereto by means of hinges 4 and 5. The back member has a supporting leg 6 connected thereto by hinge 7 at the top of the supporting leg. The supporting leg is wide enough and cut at an angle at the top so that it will support the back member in upright position. The foot member may be made of wood or plastic but has a strip of metal 10 inlaid along its center axis both on its front edge and on its top edge.

The back member may be made of wood, plastic or light metal and preferably has a hinged portion 12 near the top connected to the bottom portion 2 by means Patented Mar. 21, 1961 of the hinges 13 and 14. The primary purpose of the hinged arrangement is to provide a smaller package for transporting the stand. The back member preferably has also a strip of metal 15 and 15 running along the center axis of its front surface.

An elongated holding member 16 is removably, adjustably and rotatably mounted on the foot member or the back member by means of a magnet 17 which is adapted to hold the member 16 onto the metal strips 10, 15, or 15. The magnet may be a conventional alnico magnet having a pulling power of a few pounds. The magnet is connected into the holding member by means of screws or any other convenient fastening means.

The holding member has a pair of holding fingers 20 and 21 which are pivotally mounted near the ends of the holding member for the purposes of assisting in holding the books or papers. The holding fingers may be made as long as desired and may extend beyond the ends of the holding member if desired to thereby increase its effective length.

One of the main advantages of applicants device is that the pages of the book may be easily turned by sliding the holding member toward the user and down against the front edge of the foot member thereby removing all obstacles in the way of turning the page. It is not necessary to move the book itself as would generally be the case in book stands having spring type holding means. When it is desired to study or copy from. single papers, they may be magnetically connected to the back member by pressing the holding member 16 over the paper near the top thereof so that the holding member is magnetically connected to the metal strips 15 and 15'. The strips 10, 15, and 15 are only necessary when the foot member and back member are made of non-magnetic metals and would not be necessary if they were made of a magnetic metal. For instance, the back member could easily be made of a thin steel plate as could the support leg 6.

The apparatus may be easily folded into a thin package by folding the foot member up against the back member and the top portion of the back member down, in which position the holding member may be conveniently attached to the front edge of the foot member. When this is done and the support leg is folded against the back member, the apparatus is a substantially flat package for convenient carrying. If it is not desired to make the unit in transportable form, the pieces may be rigidly connected together by brackets and the hinges eliminated.

I claim:

A book holder comprising a bottom member having a center strip of magnetic material, a back member connected to said bottom member, means connected to support said back member in an upright position, a book holding member adapted to be magnetically connected to said center strip on said bottom member, and a magnet connected to the center of said holding member to adjustably connect it to said bottom member, said holding member having two adjustable arms mounted thereon at either end thereof, said book holding member being rotatable on said center strip of said bottom memher in balanced rotation to fit against both pages of an open book regardless of the thickness of said book under either of said opened pages.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 205,156 Turner June 18, 1878 2,177,905 McKeehan Oct. 31, 1939 2,497,332 Teeter Feb. 14, 1950 2,763,241 Waggoner Sept. 18, 1956 2,787,086 Kraus Apr. 2, 1957 

